Welcome to this special Royal Baby edition of The Royalist—all the latest royal baby news and gossip with Tom Sykes and Tim Teeman. For Beast Inside members only.
Happy Hormones
Meghan and Harry spent two hours at one of London’s most fashionable alternative wellness centers as they prepared for the birth of their kid. The expectant couple were spotted sneaking into the Ilapothecary store in Kensington, a stone’s throw from Kensington Palace, for the marathon session on Friday last week, Hello! reports.
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The brand, which counts Natalie Portman, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Donna Karan among its customers, is famous for its delicious unguents but also runs a variety of new age workshops such as vibrational sound healing, numerology, and energy healing.
Of particular interest to Harry and Meghan is likely to be the Happy Hormone Equilibrium package, which claims to assist recovery from childbirth by using an “adaptogenic Castor Oil packing system to support the reproductive system,” according to the store’s website.
They were super-dressed down, said Hello!, with Meghan wearing a T-shirt with the name of the ’8os movie Sixteen Candles emblazoned on it and one of Harry’s old jackets, and Harry in a baseball cap.
Location, Location, Location
If Meghan really decides not to give birth at London’s Lindo Wing, as all the latest chatter is suggesting, it will pose a massive headache for the royal security squad at the Metropolitan Police.
Dai Davies, a retired policeman who once headed up the dedicated royal unit, SO14, told The Sun earlier this week that Harry and Meghan’s decision to base themselves at a remote cottage in Windsor was a “potential problem” from a security standpoint, so the idea of Harry and Meghan rocking up to the local NHS hospital is likely giving the police conniptions.
All this comes after it was revealed this week that of 160 known royal stalkers, five “fixated persons” are considered to be high risk. Given that some of them are said to be motivated by racist hatred, it is not hard to see the potential risk to the first non-white royal baby and family. Meghan may yet end up giving birth in the secure environs of the Lindo Wing, but nothing is certain in British life until the police put up signs suspending parking in the area. Then you know things are getting real.
Knit to Show You Care
The royals typically receive many hundreds of hand-knitted gifts from members of the public. Indeed, The Daily Beast royal reporter Tom Sykes says one of his most vivid childhood memories is knitting a pair of baby boots for Prince Harry and posting them off to Buckingham Palace, and receiving a lovely letter of thanks a few weeks later.
People who sent pressies (or even letters) to George, Charlotte, and Louis all received letters of thanks, complete with cards bearing different photographs from those issued to the press. The thanks are sincere, but the harsh truth is that the vast majority of the thousands of hats and booties currently winging their way to Kensington Palace will likely end up being donated to charity.
Dry Those Dishes
Americans say dish towel, Brits say tea towel, and this humble item often manifests the first signs of souvenir madness around any royal wedding or birth.
Australians are not waiting to see what gender or name Harry and Meghan’s baby ends up inhabiting. Because who needs a name or gender when there are dishes and cups and cutlery to be dried? New Idea has these royal baby tea towels for all circumstances, with pastel riffs on the Union Jack, and—of course—accessorized for photographic purposes with a pot and cup of tea, and biscuits (NEVER cookies) perched on the side.
The U.K.-based Victoria Eggs has made it possible for you to pre-order your royal baby tea towel. The company will add the date of the birth and baby’s name when both are known and then ship the tea towel to you. The towel itself shows two storks, which, according to its makers, “can be seen carrying the new prince or princess, a selection of children’s toys and a Victorian rocking horse stand ready to be played with, and a teddy-bear sits proud wearing a crown and waving a Union flag!” Peak British, basically.
Our early royal baby tea towel favorite is the one from accessibly posh U.K. store John Lewis. It’s a beautifully designed, whimsical affair featuring guardsmen, Corgis, teddy bears, baby rattles, crowns, balloons, and a giant gold-rimmed old-school pram.
Royal Baby Fashion Watch
Whatever else, expect the new royal baby to be exceptionally well-dressed. When Princess Charlotte first met the world outside the Lindo Wing of St. Mary’s Hospital, she did so swathed in a white G.H. Hurt & Son shawl. While Kate and William have dressed their kids quite traditionally, Prince George is also a consummate scene-stealer, cheekily livening up Breton stripes and stiff-looking shorts. When he was much younger, he rocked a Cath Kidston tank top.
Meghan and Harry are way cooler than Kate and William, so expect Baby Sussex to be as on-trend and sharp as Harper Beckham and her Anna Wintour-y fringe.
Follow the Money
Latest royal baby name betting at Paddypower.com:
Diana—3/1
Victoria—10/1
Alice—14/1
Arthur—14/1
James—14/1
Genghis—500/1
When Will the Baby Be Born?
April 1-8—5/1
April 8-15—9/2
April 15-22—4/1
April 22-29—2/1
April 29-May 6—3/1
May 6-13—6/1
May 13-20—8/1
